A computer system may malfunction due to hardware and/or software errors. When such a malfunction occurs, the computer system may perform a memory data dump in which data (hereinafter called “data dump information”) from system memory is copied to non-volatile memory storage such as a hard drive. The data dump information may contain, for example, information regarding the state of an operating system and hardware of the computer system. The data dump information may subsequently be analyzed to discover the cause of the malfunction, thereby allowing hardware and/or software providers to resolve malfunctions caused by their products.
Unfortunately, the ability of a computer system to successfully perform a data dump may be adversely affected by the malfunctions described above. During a system crash, if just one hardware or software component needed to perform the data dump is disabled, or is otherwise adversely affected, the ability of the computer system to perform the data dump may be reduced. For example, successfully performing a data dump to a local disc drive (i.e., a disc drive in the same system performing the data dump) may involve several factors including sufficient space to store the data dump information and correct operation of the disc drive, the disc drive firmware, the disc drive software drivers, and various components of the operating system that support the disc drive. The reliability of a computer system to perform a data dump may decrease when the complexity (e.g., number) of hardware and/or software operations implemented to perform the data dump increases.